Haskell Edson (1 results)

Condition: Usual folds. Approx. 260pp. Variously written in pencil or ink, on a variety of paper, but generally quite legible. A few with original envelopes. [With:] Haskell's manuscript discharge dated Nov. 18, 1864, partly-printed discharge of the same date, a cdv of Maj. Gen. Hunter and Haskell's 1865 marriage certificate. 8vo or 4to. Haskell (1836-1877) enlisted at Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York on November 18, 1861 and mustered for a three year enlistment in Company F of the 1st New York Engineers. At the start of the war, the Army Corps of Engineers was severely underpopulated; Civil Engineer Edward Serrell began recruiting for the specialized service in October 1861, with promises of pay one-third greater than infantry service. The first five letters of this archive are written by Haskell from Camp Washington on Staten Island, as the regiment was formed, trained and awaited orders. The letters describe his daily routine, quarters, the batteries and harbor and relate news that he has passed as an engineer. Among the most interesting of these letters is one dated January 22, 1862 in which he details a visit to Central Park, with a lengthy description of the landscape and ongoing construction. The 1st New York was deployed to Port Royal Sound and was formed as the 10th Corps Engineers in the Department of the South. Haskell and his company are sent to Hilton Head, arriving at the end of February 1862. The next six months are spent on the island, working on its wharves and fortifications. He describes his quarters and rations, inspection and drills, his work on a powder magazine, flood gate and surveying for new fortifications. He writes at length about the number "contrabands", i.e. the freed or escaped slaves from Confederate plantations coming to Hilton Head. He writes on March 1, 1862, soon after arriving: "There are a plenty of contrabands slaves here. They chop and raft logs for the wharves that they are building. The women & children are around among the soldiers selling sweet potatoes, oysters and such to them. There are a good many soldiers here on the island and there was a good many that have just left on an expedition and they keep coming." On April 1, 1862 he adds: "The government is making preparation to put in a cotton crop here. The negroes are preparing the ground. Contrabands come in every day. Two came in yesterday who said that they had nothing to eat for 4 days." On May 10, 1862: "There is a good many contrabands and they keep coming in all the time. When they first arrived they are very ragged, both men and women but they are all provided with suitable clothes. The soldiers are down on them because the negroes are used better than they are and have more privilege granted to them by the authorities. And the soldier vents his spite on the negro every chance he can get. Most of the negroes are employed. General Hunter has just commenced getting up a negro regiment of 1500 men to do guard duty through the night and to garrison some of the forts. The officers are to be white men and are to be taken from our regiment. There is quite an effort by some northern society to educate them to work; a job which they have but a slight idea." On October 5, 1862 he notes the work General Mitchel among the formerly enslaved: "I went yesterday (Sunday) to the ordination of the Negro Church (Baptist). Our chaplain read the ordination service of the Episcopal church and made a few remarks but General Mitchell done most of the talking . He told them that he was going to have them time by themselves, and was going to educate them and make them good citizens. He has a squad of 50 men building houses for them about 3 miles from head quarters called the negro villages." In April 1862 he participates in the Battle of Fort Pulaski, giving a lengthy account on April 15: "We fell in and marched through the rain to the docks, stood in the rain all of an hour and then went on board pretty well soaked. At 9 o'clock the steamboat started. About noon we.